Yet another example where the greed for profits misses an opportunity to
enhance growth.

Steve


---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Tue, 01 May 2001 01:16:14 -0500
From: Reagan D. Lynch <[log in to unmask]>
Reply-To: Multiple recipients of NFBnet NFB-Talk Mailing List
    <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Where did my radio station go?



I have seen discussion on this list about people going to their favorite
radio station online.  Then being told that the station is not streaming the
audio due to copyright issues.  Well I hope this article from The Industry
Standard helps to make that internet broadcast blackout sound a little
clearer.

Streaming Hits a Snag

Conflicts over Net-ad royalty payments have prompted radio's big players to
pull the plug on their live Web feeds. Web ad-insertion companies could end
up as the winners in this scenario - and so might
the stations themselves.

By Julene Snyder

If you believe Kurt Hanson's take, the big radio conglomerates' decision
earlier this month to pull their live Web feeds to avoid paying Net ad
royalties is an indication of an industry in a crisis.

Web radio listeners were undoubtedly disappointed in mid-April when hundreds
of radio stations yanked their broadcast content offline, citing the fees
the American Federation of Television and Radio
Artists requires them to pay ad agencies to compensate union actors for the
use of on-air ads online. MeasureCast, a company that tracks streaming radio
audience size and demographics, says the total number
of hours of online radio broadcasts declined by 6 percent last week.  But
according to Hanson, a radio market researcher and consultant who runs a
daily Web publication covering the industry, the radio stations
didn't necessarily have to pull their live broadcasts from the Web - they
could have found another way to broadcast ads online without paying fees.

After pulling the Web feeds, Kevin Mayer, CEO of Clear Channel Internet
Group, said in a brief statement that his company - the largest radio
station owner in the U.S. - will bring back its Internet
radio streams "when it makes legal and financial sense." One way to do this,
Hanson suggests, is for the stations to sign up with ad-insertion companies
that can replace the on-air ads with spots
designed specifically to be broadcast on the Internet. AFTRA spokesman
Matthis Dunn says the union has no problem with radio stations entirely
replacing terrestrial commercials with Internet-only ads on
their Webcasts. Clear Channel is reportedly in the process of selecting and
deploying ad-insertion technology.

These technologies could open up another revenue stream for radio stations
that broadcast live online. Ad-insertion companies like Everstream,
Lightningcast and iBeam Broadcasting charge Webcasters a
fee of as little as $300 a month, or a percentage of the station's revenue.
Once the service is set up, all a DJ has to do is flip a
switch to send each type of ad to either terrestrial airwaves or the Net.

While ad-insertion companies may have hit pay dirt, the radio stations
themselves might benefit as well. "They've been looking for a way to charge
their advertisers extra to be included on a Webcast," Hanson
says. "Now they're free to charge those extra fees."

Online-only radio stations like Spinner Networks, Launch.com and SonicNet
aren't affected by any of the brouhaha, since ads created and streamed
strictly for an online audience are exempted from the
additional royalty fees. Last week, Webcaster Digital Club Network announced
a plan to deliver live concert broadcasts to radio broadcasters; because the
company owns all the copyrights to its live
music content, it can license those streams with impunity.

For now, Hanson is predicting that at least some stations will hook up with
an ad-insertion vendor and start streaming online again within the next few
months. In the meantime, online radio aficionados
listening in their offices can seek out Internet-only stations or just lean
over and turn on their actual terrestrial radio. That is, of
course, if they can pick up the signal from inside layers of corporate
walls.

Read more at http://www.thestandard.com/article/0,1902,23671,00.html


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